A/N: Back again with Chapter 3! Thanks for the reviews and all the follows/favorites! Feels good to get this out there and see that people like it :)
Chapter 3
The End of Rapier Squadron, part II
Vara paced the length of the barracks, ignoring R9's comforting pleas. Iolo sat on his cot, stewing while Poe talked to the Major. They were all on the same page - this needed to be dealt with, and now. That was an organized attack by the First Order, but none of the high command or the Senate seemed to realize it.
They both jumped as Poe stormed past the open barracks door towards the hangar in a flash.
"That can't have gone well," Iolo murmured.
"Give him a second," Vara said. "Let him collect his thoughts before we hound him."
"You should, Kilo. Not me."
"We're a team, Iolo. If he goes, we both go with him."
"I can't imagine that the Major is letting us go at all."
Vara sighed. "Okay. I'll talk to him. But I'm getting you before we leave," she said. Leaving the barracks and following Poe to the hangar, she felt a pang of sorrow when she saw the empty space for Muran's X-wing.
"It's a no, isn't it?"
Poe looked up to see Vara, her R9 rolling up silently behind her. He shook his head. "On Major Deso's orders."
"Him, or higher up?" she said, unconsciously hushed.
"Higher. We go up on anything other than a routine patrol, we're all looking at charges."
Vara fists clenched at her side. "So we're supposed to just sit on our hands."
"No," he said, one of his hands on his X-wing. "We're going on patrol."
Vara raced back to the barracks, her heart pounding with excitement. Poe was up to something, going up on patrol so quickly after they'd come down, but she'd let him get to it when they were out of reach of Command. "Iolo, R9, we're going up on a run. Let's go."
As soon as they were clear of Mirrin airspace, Poe patched through to the remaining Rapiers. "Rapier Two, Rapier Three, comlink your astromechs to Rapier One and upload all telemetry from the Suraz engagement to BB-8, please."
"Poe, you are slick," Vara said with a smile. "Are we doing this?"
"I'm doing this," Poe intoned. "I'm not letting you two flush your careers on a disobedience charge."
"Poe -"
"No, Vara," he interrupted. It was the first time he had called her by her name while they were in the air. "This is just recon. Everything goes well, I'll be back before Deso knows we've split up."
Vara heard BB-8 chirping over the radio again. "He have a trajectory?"
"Of course," Poe said. He paused. "This may be a wild mynock hunt," he said, the frown apparent in his voice.
"Neither Iolo or I are looking for a promotion, Rapier leader," Vara said. Iolo grunted in agreement. "Be smart and hurry back, okay?"
"You got it," he replied. The excitement was in his voice again, and Vara was glad to hear it.
"Poe?"
"Yeah, Vara?"
"May the Force be with you."
Vara pictured him smiling at her, and then he was gone.
By the time Vara and Iolo finished their patrol, Poe still hadn't returned.
"They'll be expecting us back by now," Vara said, not trying to hide the worry in her voice.
"The Major can hold it for a few more minutes," Iolo said. "We can make another loop around Prime, say we thought we caught something."
"If they try and radio him, we're screwed."
"They probably already have, Rapier Two," Iolo replied. "We'll just hang out for as long as it's not suspicious. Feel strange to be in charge? Technically, if something happened…"
"Ha!" Vara laughed. "That's pretty funny."
"You could, you know. They might give you your own someday."
Vara shook her head. "Can't I just fly with you guys forever?"
"Rapier Squadron, status," the staticky voice they were expecting finally came.
"Rapier Two here. We're finishing up our loop, Mirrin Base," Vara replied,
"Where is Rapier Leader?"
She gulped. "We're not sure, Mirrin Base." Poe had instructed them to tell Base that he left without telling them where he was going, which was, in a way, true.
"Rapier Two and Rapier Three, head back. Both of you to hangar 22. Immediately."
"That's not good," Iolo said as the voice faded out.
"Not at all."
Vara found herself pacing again, this time in a hut similar to the one she had just been in for the most important meeting of her life. General Leia Organa had stood in front of her, commending her on her flying and thanking her for having the courage to stand up to the First Order. It was like a dream, something Vara never thought would happen. She had been 'invited' to the Resistance, and excitedly accepted without even knowing what Poe had found. They didn't know themselves yet - just that there was more to what the First Order had done than stealing a freighter. She was told that Poe had come back barely intact, and she had heard the speeder pull up to the General's hut through the pouring rain just two buildings over, but she was too anxious. Vara needed to know if he was coming with her or not, even though deep down, she already knew.
The door to the hut swung open and there he stood, one of their escorts standing behind him. Poe didn't give Vara a chance to react before he swept her up in a hug, her toes leaving the ground.
"Did you meet her? Wasn't it amazing?" she asked when he put her down again.
"I did! Vara, please tell me you're coming with me."
"Of course I am, Poe."
"She told me she offered you and Iolo command of your own squadrons. Congratulations -"
"I, um," Vara started. "I actually turned that part down."
"You what?" He stared at her, stunned. "But Vara, you'd be so good at it!"
"I told her I still wanted to fly under you." She shrugged, her face turning pink.
Poe smiled slowly. "Well, I can't say that I hate that," he said.
"I think Iolo said it best. Remember that night when he had too much at the Bantha?"
Poe laughed. "He doesn't."
"He said, 'You two are two heads of one nexu.' As if that's something I want to think about."
Poe brought her into another hug. "I'm happy you're staying in my squad, Vara. I really am."
"Good, because you're not getting rid of me."
"Yeah, who's going to be my mechanic?"
"Watch it, Dameron, or I'm never fixing anything of yours again."
"Not even BB-8?" he gasped.
"Him, I'll always fix," Vara said, smirking back at him. "Come on, we have to go pack! Tell me about what you saw when you found the Zyde. What were they doing with it?"
"Well, when I dropped out of hyperspace at OR-Kappa-2272, I found three Star Destroyers, four frigates, two Maxima cruisers, and one Dissident cruiser. I think one of the destroyers was Imperial, and two of those frigates were definitely Lancers. Also, there were probably around 75 TIEs flying around." He said this as if it was something he saw every day, as if it were routine.
Vara stopped in her tracks in the rain, her mouth open in shock. "I knew I should have gone with you. I really...I can't even believe you got out of here alive!"
"Well, it's me, Vara. Plus, going into that, I wouldn't have brought you with me even if I knew. I couldn't risk you like that."
"I know it's you, but still…" She shook her head as the got back on the transport headed for the barracks. "So it was important. Whatever they took the Zyde for."
"It was carrying charging arrays. High capacity. I couldn't even find the thing at first, it was so crowded there."
"So for storing and discharging energy. Why did they need that? Why protect it with so many ships?" Vara asked, mostly to herself.
"I don't know. But it's not good."